•J20 
THE BLACK BEAR. 
formed, with a very large rock, a triangular 
space into which the snow had drifted to a 
depth of ten or twelve feet. The Indian was 
about to pass on, when he detected the whin- 
ing of bear-cubs. By making a detour, he 
reached a place on a level with the bottom 
of the bowlder, and there saw the tracks of an 
old bear, leading directly into the center of 
the space between the tree-root and the bowl- 
der. The old bear, in her comings and goings, 
had tunneled a passage under the snow-drift. 
Getting down on his hands and knees, the 
Indian, with his knife held between his teeth, 
crept, bear fashion, into the tunnel. After 
entering several feet, he found the usual bear 
device — a path branching off in two directions. 
While pondering what to do under such cir- 
cumstances, a warning cry came from his 
little son, who was perched on the top of the 
bowlder, and the next instant the old bear 
rushed into the tunnel, and came into violent 
contact with the Indian, the shock causing 
the tunnel to cave in. The Indian, after deal- 
ing the bear one blow, lost his knife in the 
snow, and seized the bear with his hands; 
but she proved too strong for him, and was 
the first to struggle out of the drift, when, 
unfortunately, she met the litde Indian boy, 
who had climbed down to his father's res- 
cue. He received a tremendous blow on the 
thigh from the bear's paw as she passed, 
which crippled him for life. Four days after- 
ward the Indian, determined to avenge the 
injury of his son by slaying the old bear, 
returned to the den, and discovered her 
lying dead upon the snow in front of the 
bowlder : his one blow had gone home, and 
the poor creature had crawled back to her 
young to die. The Indian dug away the 
snow, and found three cubs; one was dead, 
and the others died before he could reach 
his camp. 
The principal strongholds of the black bear 
at the present day are the great forests of 
Maine and New Brunswick. My own obser- 
vation and the reports of farmers lead me to 
think that Bruin is growing more carnivorous 
and discontented with a diet of herbs. Assur- 
edly, he is growing bolder. He is also de- 
veloping a propensity to destroy more than 
he can eat, and it is not improbable that 
his posterity may cease to be frugi-camiv- 
orous. It is fortunate that an animal of the 
strength and ferocity which he displays when 
aroused, seldom attacks man. The forma- 
tion of his powerful jaws and terrible canine 
teeth are well adapted to seize and hold his 
prey, and his molars are strong enough to 
crush the bones of an ox. His great strength, 
however, Hes in his fore-arm and paws. His 
mode of attacking his prey is not to seize it 
with his teeth, but to strike terrific blows with 
his fore-paw. 
Bruin's weakness is for pork, and to obtain 
it he will run any risk. When the farmers, 
after suffering severe losses at his hands, be- 
come unusually alert, he retires to the depths 
of the forest and solaces himself with a young 
moose, caribou, or deer. He seldom or never 
attacks a full-grown moose, but traces of des- 
perate encounters, in which the cow-moose 
has battled for her offspring, are frequently 
met with in the woods. The average value 
of a bear, including the bounty, is twenty 
dollars. This being the case, it may appear 
surprising that larger numbers are not taken. 
But the black bear combines extreme cunning 
with great sagacity, and every year he seems 
to be getting more on his guard, and sus- 
picious of all devices intended for his capt- 
ure. Large, full-grown animals are seldom 
killed. A black bear skin, taken at the proper 
season, is not excelled by any other kind of 
fur. If properly dressed, it possesses great 
softness and a gloss pecuhar to itself The 
fur is highly esteemed in Europe, where it is 
used for sleigh and carriage robes, and coat 
linings and trimmings. It is also in much re- 
quest in England and other parts of Europe, 
for the shakos of certain infantry regiments 
and the housings and trappings of cavalry. 
In the autumn of 1879, in the Red Rock 
district. Province of New Brunswick, eight- 
een bears were killed, only two of which had 
arrived at maturity; some of them were only 
yearlings. Only ten or twelve settlers and 
their families inhabit the district, and during 
that year seventy-three head of stock, includ- 
ing sheep, hogs, and homed catde, were de- 
stroyed by bears. This district, situated, on 
the extreme outskirts of civilization, is the 
bear's paradise. The houses in most cases are 
built of logs, and the occupants are a stalwart, 
simple race, whose manners and customs carry 
you back to the frontier life of half a century 
ago. They are hospitable to a degree not 
often met with at the present day. The farms 
on which they live are clearings in the prime- 
val forests. During a visit to this district, I had 
the luck, unexpectedly, to see Bruin at home 
in one of his wildest retreats. North of the 
settlement a range of rocky hills rises perpen- 
dicularly from the shores of a forest lake. 
The hills are strewn with gigantic bowlders, 
over which the hunter must pick his way with 
no little difficulty and danger. But by that 
expert climber, the black bear, such rugged 
ground is easily traversed. Our tramp had 
been a long one, and on our return my Indian 
guide proposed that we should cross the Red 
Rock hills, and thus save much time. Disre- 
garding the old adage that " the longest way 
